Apr 11, 2017 10:09 AM EDT By Aaron Hank, UniversityHerald Reporter

Microsoft is once again on a shopping spree, adding another key technology and new capability to the fast-growing Microsoft Azure cloud business. The software giant this week announced the acquisition of Deis, a San Francisco-based startup that specializes in container technology, for an undisclosed amount.

The company is acquiring the Kubernetes orchestration specialist to boost its Kubernetes technology. The Redmond-based software company this week has just announced plans to acquire Deis, a San Francisco-based startup company that offers open source tools and training to facilitate Kubernetes technology, a modern method of developing and deploying software, the RedmondMag reported.

For a starter, Kubernetes is a Google-backed open source container deployment and management tool that provides automated deployment, scaling, and operations of application containers. Container technology has been seen today as the new building blocks of cloud-based applications and has been at the forefront of many cloud transformation in the past few months. Microsoft first announced plans to work with Google-backed Kubernetes project in 2014. In February 2017, Microsoft has finally announced the general availability of Kubernetes to Microsoft Azure Container Service.

According to Scott Guthrie, VP for Microsoft Cloud and Enterprise Group, the software firm is looking to make use of Deis' expertise in container technology to round out its Windows and Linux container portfolio in the Azure cloud. Deis is expected to add expertise in open source technologies to Microsoft, boosting Linux, Windows and Azure container deployments. The Deis acquisition is just a part of Microsoft's not-so-secret ongoing effort in keeping Microsoft Azure as the best platform to run containerized workloads.

In another Azure-related story, Microsoft Azure has reportedly become a realistic competitor to market leader AWS on the fast-growing IaaS market. AWS may still hold the dominant position in the cloud computing market, but new marketing research suggests that it faces serious competition from Microsoft Azure, especially in the highly lucrative enterprise space, according to Data Dynamics.

Microsoft's strong position in the enterprise market has always been one of its big advantages and strength in securing a strong position in the highly lucrative cloud computing space. More importantly, Azure is specialized for enterprise IT needs, combined that with Microsoft's global reach, this gives the software company an extremely powerful weapon that can be leverage to take on AWS in the cloud market.

However, Microsoft will still have a hard time stealing market leadership away from original cloud king AWS. The Seattle-based tech giant still enjoyed a big lead in the cloud computing market thanks to its huge head start and vast resources, but Microsoft Azure is growing fast and now offers comparable service.

Check out the video below to learn more about Microsoft Azure Container Service.

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